Formats
Photo Booth Strip restoration
A photo booth strip is four small frames on a single strip from a coin-operated booth, printed on direct-positive paper in a few minutes. There is no negative; the strip is the whole record.
The strips were carried in wallets and purses, so they crease across the frames, the silver surface yellows and mirrors, and the edges fray. Handle the photo booth strip by its edges, scan it once at a high resolution, and do the repair on the file rather than the object.
Photo Restoration is the first tool to run on a photo booth strip; it is written for this material and keeps the output at the shape of the upload. Chain Face Restoration and the upscaler in the Studio if the photo booth strip is going to be reprinted.
Original on the left, restored on the right; hover to see more of the repair. Made in the Studio from a scan of the print.
Print and file requirements
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Years in use | 1925 (Photomaton) onward |
| Typical size | 1.5 x 8 in strip with four 1.5 x 2 in frames |
| Process | Direct-positive silver paper developed inside the booth (chemical booths until the 2000s) |
| Appearance | Black-and-white or sepia, color from the 1960s; slightly soft |
| How it fails | Creases, yellowing, silver mirroring, frayed edges |
| Scan tip | Scan the whole strip, then crop and restore one frame at a time |
What matters for these photos
- Creases, yellowing, silver mirroring, frayed edges on a photo booth strip
- A photo booth strip scanned once, badly, and never touched again
- Faces on a photo booth strip that are too small or too soft to enlarge
- A reprint of the photo booth strip for a frame, needing more pixels than the scan has
Suggested order of passes
- 01
Run Photo Restoration on the photo booth strip
Written for the way a photo booth strip fails: creases, yellowing, silver mirroring, frayed edges.
Photo Restoration - 02
Clean up the photo booth strip scan
Removes scanner dust, borders and the color cast a flatbed adds to a photo booth strip, and straightens it.
Scan Cleanup - 03
Restore the faces on the photo booth strip
Recovers eye and skin detail at natural strength; small faces on a photo booth strip are plausible reconstructions.
Face Restoration - 04
Upscale the photo booth strip for reprinting
A photo booth strip is small to begin with; the upscaler adds the pixels a frame-sized print needs.
Image Upscaler
Questions
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